Answer Me This

Answer Me This is a forum for addressing questions about working at Seattle University and campus life. The Commons invites faculty and staff to suggest possible topics for questions or specific questions for consideration by e-mailing theem@seattleu.edu.

Locking blind entrances

Q: One reader asked this a few weeks back--Why is the entrance on the south side of the Admin Building now locked during business hours?

A: The door was locked over the summer because it is a "blind entrance," says Tim Marron, executive director of public safety and transportation. "Blind entrances," he explains, are those at which no one is stationed on the inside of the building to view who enters.

The decision to lock the door was made in response to numerous safety concerns expressed by building staff over unaffiliated people entering the building and loitering in the hallway. (The north entrance has long been locked for this reason.)

"We are an open campus in an area of Seattle that has significant crime rate," says Marron. "The safety of faculty, staff and students outweighed convenience, in this particular case."